The European Commission and the British government have released a joint statement announcing that they will work together on the distribution of coronavirus vaccines, on which in recent days there were several tensions.
This morning the European Commission had proposed a new control mechanism on exports of vaccines outside the Union, which according to several observers had to work mainly to prevent the transfer of vaccines to the United Kingdom. In the same hours the Print had written that in an Italian plant of an AstraZeneca-related industry, the Italian authorities had found millions of doses of the vaccine directed to the UK (AstraZeneca denied the allegations, without giving many details).
The statement appears to indicate that the Commission and the UK government are trying to find a compromise to avoid drastic measures such as an export ban, which according to an estimate of Guardian would delay the UK vaccination campaign by about two months. It must be said that since the beginning of the pandemic, the United Kingdom has not exported any dose of vaccines to the countries of the European Union, but has imported around 10 million doses produced in European countries.
BREAK: Joint EU-UK statement on vaccine cooperation.
No details but both sides have agreed to work together to find a “win-win” and “expand vaccine supply”.
Seems like a step to diffuse the tensions. pic.twitter.com/e0o16u3L0x
— Shehab Khan (@ShehabKhan) March 24, 2021
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